FISHING IN HOT SPRINGS. ill 



Our way lay down by the mazar 1 to Tashkur- 

 gan, where we found what was to us luxury and 

 civilisation, after our sojourn in the upper regions 

 of the Taghdumbash. 



A note came to us in the evening from Major 

 Younghusband, who was a great friend of 

 Bower's, saying he would leave his camp, which 

 was near the mazar, and take a run down to 

 see us. . 



There were some hot springs, a native told me, 

 where fish were to be found as long as my arm ; 

 so, thinking I might as well employ the spare 

 time, I got out my rod. I tried a fly, then a spoon, 

 but they would have neither, so chanced my last 

 resource, a single hook with a shot on it, baited 

 with a bit of raw meat. I lay down on the bank 

 above a shoal of fish that reposed in a nice pool 

 with about 6 feet of water, and watched my bait 

 float gradually down on to the nose of the leading 

 fish : the water was so clear that I saw him open 

 his mouth and suck it in. He played well, but as 

 there were weed-patches about, I did not give him 

 much law, and soon had him out, a nice-shaped 

 fish of about 4 Ib. weight, something between a 



1 Mazar cairn of stones on which are piled the horns of Ovis, 

 ibex, c. 



